StateLine: State employees surf the Web

Friday

Employees of the Massachusetts Turnpike and Water Resources authorities are spending hours of work time surfing social networking and shopping sites online, according to a review of Web traffic data.

Employees of the Massachusetts Turnpike and Water Resources authorities are spending hours of work time surfing social networking and shopping sites online, according to a review of Web traffic data.

In response to a public records request, the Turnpike Authority revealed that employees made 6,864 Web visits and spent more than 30 hours on amazon.com, facebook.com and myspace.com last year.

Amazon, a popular shopping site for books, music, garnered more than 6,500 hits from 161 Turnpike employees.

In January, 238 Water Resource Authority employees spent a total of 15 hours browsing the site, according to the records released by the authority.

The MWRA uses a computer filter that blocks access to Facebook and MySpace.

The authority could not provide records for an entire year because it uses a rolling system that deletes records that are more than 30 days old, said spokeswoman Ria Convery.

``The Internet has become an intrinsic part of the workday at the Pike and elsewhere in state government,'' spokesman Mac Daniel wrote in an e-mail.

``The Turnpike Authority's internal communications policy is meant to control what employees can and can't view on their computers. We also place software filters on many sites. Still, we recognize the need for the occasional cyber sojourn, as long as the privilege isn't abused. In the Turnpike's case, we don't believe it has been.''

Although the Turnpike Authority was able to compile the records in two hours, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Massachusetts Housing Authority, the office of the state comptroller, and the Health Insurance Connector said they could not find, or did not maintain records of Internet traffic to those sites.

``We do some tracking and some sights are blocked, but we have a reasonable use exception,'' said MassPort spokesman Matt Brelis. ``Two weeks before Christmas if somebody went on amazon.com and was there for five minutes it wouldn't be that unusual.''

The offices of Gov. Deval Patrick, the state Legislature, and the inspector general, which are exempt from the state public records law but can provide records voluntarily, denied the request by the Daily News or said they did not have any relevant documents.

``We have reviewed your request and found no responsive documents in the possession of the Governor's Office,'' wrote attorney Michael J. Pineault. ``We also have taken the additional step of contacting the Information Technology Division (``ITD''), which provides IT support services to this Office. ITD advises that it, too, does not possess any responsive data.''

Susan Heathfield, a management consultant and co-owner of software development company TechSmith, said any employer with a companywide computer system should be able to access and review employee Internet records.

``If you're running your computer off company servers ... if I suspected that we had a problem I could have my network administrator monitor the record,'' said Heathfield, who employees 185 people.

``Once you've created a digital footprint, especially at work where so few people are unconnected, your footprints are there for anybody to find,'' she said.

Heathfield said that while occasionally using work time for personal business is OK, more employers are tracking employee phone calls, e-mails and Internet records as a legal precaution.

``Any employee that has access to the Internet is going to occasionally check a stock, check a job board, check their profile,'' Heathfied said.

``The key and critical point for an employer is that they need to have a policy in place that says `We understand that you're human and you need to limit the amount of work time you devote to personal matters.'''

Terry Dockery, an organizational psychologist who helps companies, including Coca-Cola, build teamwork and increase productivity, says Web surfing is the symptom, not the illness, of a poorly managed business.

``Why would somebody cruise the Internet? Either they're bored to death or they're bored to death,'' he said. ``They're not challenged, they're not excited about their jobs and they don't have the right leader.''

Dockery, a former Georgia parole officer, says he doesn't consult with government agencies because ``the order of the day is not making any changes and filling the hours. ... That's kind of the government worker's dilemma.''